{"id":353093,"date":"2026-06-19T04:28:46","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T22:58:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=353093"},"modified":"2026-06-19T04:28:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T22:58:47","slug":"qatar-fans-get-govt-paid-perks-trip-to-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/06\/19\/qatar-fans-get-govt-paid-perks-trip-to-world-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"Qatar fans get\u00a0gov\u2019t-paid perks, trip to World Cup\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n
\n

HOME SUPPORT Qatar\u2019s soccer team in training session on the eve of its World Cup match against Canada on June 17 in Vancouver, British Columbia. \u2014AP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

VANCOUVER, British Columbia\u2014Qatar brought a cheering section to the World Cup by treating a big contingent of supporters to an all-expenses-paid trip to North America.<\/p>\n

Some 1,000 Qatari fans have descended on Vancouver, via jets chartered by the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, ahead of Thursday\u2019s match against Canada.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tArticle continues after this commercial<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n

The fans are staying at posh hotels, including the Fairmont and the JW Marriott Parq. They\u2019ve been turning heads downtown, breaking out traditional darbuka drums.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo start with I would love to thank everyone who went the additional mile and made the journey out here,\u201d captain Abdulaziz Hatem said. \u201cWe’re very aware of the responsibility. We’re going to do whatever it takes for them to go away the stadium blissful and for them to be happy with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Qatar\u2019s Social and Sport Contribution Fund partnered with the Persian Gulf nation\u2019s soccer federation to pay for the \u201cQatari Fans Delegation Program\u201d for the World Cup.<\/p>\n

The fund covers flights, hotels and native transportation and other perks.<\/p>\n

\nArticle continues after this commercial<\/i>\t\t <\/p><\/div>\n

The federation said the aim was to create \u201ca vibrant stadium atmosphere that may help push the players toward the very best possible results on the worldwide stage.\u201d Qatari students in america and Canada were also invited to attend the matches.<\/p>\n

Faring higher this time<\/h2>\n

Qatari fans are sure to be heavily outnumbered by red-clad Canadians at BC Place.<\/p>\n

A significant exporter of natural gas and oil, Qatar has a population of some 3.2 million. It hosted the World Cup in 2022 and made its first appearance within the tournament, becoming the primary host country to lose all of its group matches.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tArticle continues after this commercial<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n

Qatar has fared higher this time. Boualem Khoukhi scored on a header in stoppage time to provide the Qataris a surprising 1-1 draw against Switzerland in Santa Clara, California.<\/p>\n

Canada also earned its first World Cup point with a 1-1 draw against Bosnia-Herzegovina last Friday in Toronto. Cyle Larin scored the tying goal within the 78th minute.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n \n <\/path>\n <\/svg>
\n
\n Your subscription couldn’t be saved. Please try again.
\n <\/span>\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n
\n \n <\/path>\n <\/svg>
\n
\n Your subscription has been successful.
\n <\/span>\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HOME SUPPORT Qatar\u2019s soccer team in training session on the eve of its World Cup match against Canada on June 17 in Vancouver, British Columbia. \u2014AP VANCOUVER, British Columbia\u2014Qatar brought a cheering section to the World Cup by treating a big contingent of supporters to an all-expenses-paid trip to North America. Some 1,000 Qatari fans […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":353094,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20686],"tags":[1060,815,52983,6254,6273,1084,813],"class_list":["post-353093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","tag-cup","tag-fans","tag-getgovtpaid","tag-perks","tag-qatar","tag-trip","tag-world"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353093"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353093\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":353096,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353093\/revisions\/353096"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/353094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}